UPDATED: The votes are in and the fans have spoken. Claude Giroux has won the first ever EA Sports NHL 13 Cover Vote!

"It's a great honor. Obviously it's not something you think of," said Giroux shortly after the announcement. "It's all about the fans pretty much; the support of my family; my hometown and obviously the Flyers fans all over the world. I think I'm pretty lucky to actually win this."

Follow the chatter about Claude RIGHT HERE!Fans have voted a countless amount of times and waited over two months, but the day is finally here.

Tonight at the NHL's annual Awards Show in Las Vegas, Claude Giroux will find out if YOU the Flyers faithful have voted him to be the next player to be featured on EA Sports NHL 13 Cover.

Giroux advanced all the way to the finals in a showdown with Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne. From Thursday, Mar. 29 through Monday, June 4 over 25 million votes had been cast during the tournament.

"Flyers fans, players and the Flyers organization have been outstanding in supporting both Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell throughout the first ever EA Sports NHL Cover Vote campaign," said Dean Richards, General Manager, NHL EA SPORTS. "It's been a very close final between Claude Giroux and Pekka Rinne, and we are very excited to announce the face of NHL 13 during the live broadcast of the 2012 NHL Awards."

Giroux was the No. 1 seed in the tournament and paved his way to the championship round by defeating Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban in Round 1, LA Kings forward Anze Kopitar in Round 2 and Pittsburgh Penguins' forward Evgeni Malkin in the Semifinal round, getting a little revenge for Malkin defeating his teammate, Scott Hartnell, in Round 2.

In addition to Giroux and his teammates tweeting throughout the competition, celebrities from the hockey world, all of sports and even hollywood joined in the campaign:

The 2012 NHL Awards will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network in the United States and online at cbcsports.ca in Canada. CBC-TV will carry the complete two-hour celebration nationally starting at 8:00 p.m. local / 8:30 p.m. NT.